Amazon Pre-Order Price Protection?

[dvdirv]

I placed a pre-order for Coraline which comes with Amazon's pre-order price protection.

My price was $20.49. Yet today (day before street date), Amazon shipped my order at the original price instead of the new price today which Amazon lowered to $19.49.

When I received my shipping notice, I noticed it had the higher price, so I contacted Amazon customer service for a $1 adjustment (it's the principle of the thing!). I could have re-ordered at the new price and send the original item back, but I was trying to keep things simple!

When I called them, they said they could not do an adjustment once the item is shipped. I thought the price protection was in place until actual street date, but not after since Amazon canceled it's 30-day post price protection policy.

Amazon did offer to make "an exception" and refund one dollar on my account. I even had to talk to a supervisor just to do that!

What is going on here?

[jw]

a bunch of us just experienced this on Amazon.de.....I refused my order today, they can have it back

[Frank Leonidas]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Amazon...

Yeah, this has happened to me more times than I care to think about. So why do I still bother to do business with Amazon? Well, quite frankly their speed of service is unmatched (if you have Prime it's even better). The selection and ease of returns is another plus. Then there are things like this that make me go: "WHY, DAMN IT!!!" Why can't they be the absolute BEST in all areas?

Here's an interesting ordeal that happened to me recently with Amazon:

I ordered the Star Trek: Season One Blu-ray from them a couple months ago. When I got my copy I opened it to find that one of the little plastic pegs that keeps the case locked shut was broken off. I notified them that the case arrived damaged and they immediately replaced it with another (next day). The second case arrived in the exact same condition. I notified them again and they sent me a second replacement (next day). The third copy was also damaged in the exact same place. This time, they weren't going to replace the item. Apparently, Amazon does not issue more than 2 replacement copies for anything (this also happened to a friend of mine with his Dark Knight BD). I thought to myself: "Why, not? There's something wrong with it YET AGAIN and why shouldn't a $70 box set be perfect?" I realized the fault wasn't with Amazon but a friend of mine ordered the same thing from them and his copy was fine. So they offered to take all 3 copies back and refund my money in full or I could return 2 of them, keep the one I wanted out of the 3 and they would give me 20% off the original sale price I paid. I thought, that seems fair...kinda. Still, why wouldn't they insist on giving me what I ordered in the best possible condition? They should have opened every copy in the warehouse (at their time and expense) to find me one that didn't have a cracked case. In any case (no pun intended), I e-mailed them back and said I would really like to own this set (not return them all and take my chances ordering yet ANOTHER copy) so I asked them if they would give me 50% off the one I chose to keep and much to my surprise -- they did. So, I ended up with ST: Season 1 BD for around $35 new (with a minor imperfection in the case).

I guess the moral of that story is, Amazon is capable and willing to make their customers happy but sometimes they just go about it in a bizarre and completely arbitrary way. I agree with you 100% that this pre-order nonsense has got to stop but unfortunately they will have to get a lot worse before I end up boycotting them altogether. It's almost like with Amazon you have to put up with the bad in order to partake of the good. Sad, but true. And those single dollars they keep ripping people off every day have got to add up (to their advantage). You're not alone, my friend.

cheers.

[Alina]

Amazon is a bunch of shady ****s no offense. Like really...they did that on purpose

[Frank Leonidas]

Originally Posted by Alina

Amazon is a bunch of shady ****s no offense. Like really...they did that on purpose

Shady, perhaps. I'd rather go with occasionally incompetent and thoroughly perplexing. Buying new releases from them on or before the release date is just a bad idea. It's best to wait to see what Best Buy and everyone else is going to do before you commit to Amazon -- unless you really want something FAST and don't care about losing a few dollars on it.

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by Alina

Amazon is a bunch of shady ****s no offense. Like really...they did that on purpose

just my opinion, but i dont think this comment has much backing. from the numerous stories on this forum, online reviews, and through my own personal experiences, Amazon always seems to bend over backward for their customers. maybe they don't always get it right 100% of the time, but they definitely try to, and it's always a shame when people (not necessarily you, Alina) only choose to voice their opinions when things go wrong instead of when they go right. it happens all the time in retail, unfortunately.

based on what i read above, amazon was awesome to let Frank select a copy AND get 20% off. try and find any other company that would do better. the fact that he then got 50% off (which I don't even think was necessary, but still awesome) goes to show they will go the extra mile to keep customers satisfied. say what you want, but i thoroughly commend amazon for remaining dedicated to their customers even after expanding so much, and i wont ever hesitate to point that out and defend them for it

[Alina]

Originally Posted by Sussudio

just my opinion, but i dont think this comment has much backing. from the numerous stories on this forum, online reviews, and through my own personal experiences, Amazon always seems to bend over backward for their customers. maybe they don't always get it right 100% of the time, but they definitely try to, and it's always a shame when people (not necessarily you, Alina) only choose to voice their opinions when things go wrong instead of when they go right. it happens all the time in retail, unfortunately.

based on what i read above, amazon was awesome to let Frank select a copy AND get 20% off. try and find any other company that would do better. the fact that he then got 50% off (which I don't even think was necessary, but still awesome) goes to show they will go the extra mile to keep customers satisfied. say what you want, but i thoroughly commend amazon for remaining dedicated to their customers even after expanding so much, and i wont ever hesitate to point that out and defend them for it

No doubt Amazon has fast shipping and great service. But the fact that they would even deny someone $ back when they preordered the day before and they reduced the price the next day when the street date hasn't even arrived yet is SHADY. You have to admit. There's not very much room for subjection here.

[jw]

Originally Posted by Sussudio

just my opinion, but i dont think this comment has much backing. from the numerous stories on this forum, online reviews, and through my own personal experiences, Amazon always seems to bend over backward for their customers. maybe they don't always get it right 100% of the time, but they definitely try to, and it's always a shame when people (not necessarily you, Alina) only choose to voice their opinions when things go wrong instead of when they go right. it happens all the time in retail, unfortunately.

based on what i read above, amazon was awesome to let Frank select a copy AND get 20% off. try and find any other company that would do better. the fact that he then got 50% off (which I don't even think was necessary, but still awesome) goes to show they will go the extra mile to keep customers satisfied. say what you want, but i thoroughly commend amazon for remaining dedicated to their customers even after expanding so much, and i wont ever hesitate to point that out and defend them for it

hmm, what Amazon are you shopping at? I seldom have a problem but i had a real big one and they basically told me to return it if I wanted the difference. Well it hadnt shipped when the price changed so I refused it. I am talking about $250.00 difference so its well worth it to question why I wasnt given the price. I always had preordered when it was announced, but no longer

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by Alina

No doubt Amazon has fast shipping and great service. But the fact that they would even deny someone $ back when they preordered the day before and they reduced the price the next day when the street date hasn't even arrived yet is SHADY. You have to admit. There's not very much room for subjection here.

oh, you were talking about the OP...i thought you were talking about Frank's post. yea, i do disagree with Amazon's practice, that doesn't seem professional at all.

[Alina]

Originally Posted by Sussudio

oh, you were talking about the OP...i thought you were talking about Frank's post. yea, i do disagree with Amazon's practice, that doesn't seem professional at all.

Yep I was ^_^

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

hmm, what Amazon are you shopping at? I seldom have a problem but i had a real big one and they basically told me to return it if I wanted the difference. Well it hadnt shipped when the price changed so I refused it. I am talking about $250.00 difference so its well worth it to question why I wasnt given the price. I always had preordered when it was announced, but no longer

i think im getting situations mixed up with people. i was only talking about Frank's situation, not the OP's (or yours jw), and in your cases Amazon's actions do not seem appropriate at all.

idk, i guess because ive never had a major issue and have always heard really good stories from friends i always felt the need to defend them. but they are a business and corporation and i'm sure at times they do things that aren't considered ethical. i'm just wary because sometimes people (not anyone in this thread) think they deserve things they don't and i usually find it hard to believe amazon would try to take advantage of their customers; HOWEVER, in regards to the OP and jw's situation, that was not good practice on amazon's part

[jw]

well what I didnt understand is the CSR told me to return the package and reorder at the new price???? Well it hadnt been delivered and I know using UPS from Germany to the USA cant be cheap for 12kgs. The email on the price change was sent Wednesday, My order didnt ship til Friday. And the issue wasnt pre-order pricing, It was more with the VAT not being removed

Oh well, I reordered like I was told

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

well what I didnt understand is the CSR told me to return the package and reorder at the new price???? Well it hadnt been delivered and I know using UPS from Germany to the USA cant be cheap for 12kgs. The email on the price change was sent Wednesday, My order didnt ship til Friday. And the issue wasnt pre-order pricing, It was more with the VAT not being removed

Oh well, I reordered like I was told

that was strange on their part.....i preordered a blu from them a few days ago for what i think is the 1st time....let' see how it goes

[Frank Leonidas]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

well what I didnt understand is the CSR told me to return the package and reorder at the new price???? Well it hadnt been delivered and I know using UPS from Germany to the USA cant be cheap for 12kgs. The email on the price change was sent Wednesday, My order didnt ship til Friday. And the issue wasnt pre-order pricing, It was more with the VAT not being removed

Oh well, I reordered like I was told

Had kinda the same thing happen to me with the Amadeus BD. I preordered it a week before it came out for around $25 (it was in my Gold Box one day for a couple dollars less than the regular preorder price). It came out on a Tuesday and I got it in the mail the next day (I have Prime). Three days later, Best Buy dropped their price on it to $14.99 and Amazon price matched them. That was more than a ten dollar difference. They absolutely would NOT refund me the difference even though it was only a few days after the street date. They told me to just return it and then re-order it. I was like: "What?"

They pulled the dollar crap with me on the Valkyrie BD. I preordered it a couple days before the street date and they dropped it two dollars on the actual release day. I noticed the difference in price BEFORE I got the e-mail telling me it had shipped and they still refused to issue me the $2 credit. I called them thieves on that one and they sent me a response saying they would give me the $2 back but only as a "ONE-TIME EXCEPTION". How generous of them. Still can't believe that one.

So, yeah, I hear what Sussudio and others are saying about how great Amazon is (and I agree most of the time) -- but it's incidents like these that test my loyalty on a daily basis.

[MarkG]

Originally Posted by dvdirv

I placed a pre-order for Coraline which comes with Amazon's pre-order price protection.

My price was $20.49. Yet today (day before street date), Amazon shipped my order at the original price instead of the new price today which Amazon lowered to $19.49.

When I received my shipping notice, I noticed it had the higher price, so I contacted Amazon customer service for a $1 adjustment (it's the principle of the thing!). I could have re-ordered at the new price and send the original item back, but I was trying to keep things simple!

When I called them, they said they could not do an adjustment once the item is shipped. I thought the price protection was in place until actual street date, but not after since Amazon canceled it's 30-day post price protection policy.

Amazon did offer to make "an exception" and refund one dollar on my account. I even had to talk to a supervisor just to do that!

What is going on here?

Usually when that happens to me, I will either e-mail them or do nothing (nothing because I'm probably just too lazy to send an e-mail). I've never had a problem with the preorder price protection when I e-mail them.

When I do nothing, a lot of times (if not all the time) I will get an e-mail from Amazon saying that I will get a refund for the difference.

Originally Posted by jwbbud

well what I didnt understand is the CSR told me to return the package and reorder at the new price???? Well it hadnt been delivered and I know using UPS from Germany to the USA cant be cheap for 12kgs. The email on the price change was sent Wednesday, My order didnt ship til Friday. And the issue wasnt pre-order pricing, It was more with the VAT not being removed

Oh well, I reordered like I was told

Out of curiosity, When you e-mail Amazon from a non English speaking country, do you write your e-mails in English or do you have it translated?

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Alina

No doubt Amazon has fast shipping and great service. But the fact that they would even deny someone $ back when they preordered the day before and they reduced the price the next day when the street date hasn't even arrived yet is SHADY. You have to admit. There's not very much room for subjection here.

It's more puzzling than shady. While it's not right, it makes little sense for them to do things like this since it will just cost them more money in the end to have you return the item and then re-order it than it would to just give you a dollar or two. We'll see how my first ever two BD pre-orders go with them. Even with these issues, they are still cheaper than regular retail (even before the sometimes last second price drop).

[Alina]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=107460

Amazon's DOTD just a few days ago was I think $18.99. After DOTD they jacked it up to around $25 and now it's $17.99. Someone tell me that isn't shady business lol

[Clark Kent]

The moral of the story is never pre-order from Amazon unless you get in on a pricing mistake early in the pre-order. They have been using that pricing strategy for most of this year. Patience is a virtue and virtually no title is so great to need it the first day unless it happens to be a limited edition or other circumstance.

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

The moral of the story is never pre-order from Amazon unless you get in on a pricing mistake early in the pre-order. They have been using that pricing strategy for most of this year. Patience is a virtue and virtually no title is so great to need it the first day unless it happens to be a limited edition or other circumstance.

Yes and no. Using the OP's case as an example, Coraline even at the $20.49 price the person was charged is $5.50 cheaper than the price it changed to at some point today on release day. Pre-ordering way in advance though is another story, even though their policy says otherwise.

[dvdirv]

Originally Posted by killowertz

Yes and no. Using the OP's case as an example, Coraline even at the $20.49 price the person was charged is $5.50 cheaper than the price it changed to at some point today on release day. Pre-ordering way in advance though is another story, even though their policy says otherwise.

As the OP, I totally agree with you.

I have been cutting back on my pre-orders with Amazon and usually buying during the first week of release from either eBay or Amazon marketplace sellers. These have typically saved me on average about $7 per title.